Socially Active

TRUMP INVADES GERMANY

Month: May 2017

Attacks Fake News on Twitter

Donald Trump once again has shown the world exactly who he is and it’s embarrassing. This morning (5-30-2017) he proclaimed that Germany is somehow hurting the US economy. This is a funny tweet coming just days after the man was face to face with the Chancellor of Germany. Angela Merkel is surely thinking, “What just happened?”

I’m sure many of Trump’s rich friends drive Mercedes Benz and BMW cars, so why the post G-7 attack on the country that makes these quality automobiles? Mr. Know-It-All President says his trip was such a success, while the leaders in Europe are wondering what this guy is on.

Let’s just take a look at the concept of cars. Sales people at Mercedes dealerships are some of the highest paid people in automotive sales. The technicians at dealerships are also highly paid specialists. They are American workers who benefit from the products that Germany makes.

Mercedes claims that more than 350,000 Mercedes cars are sold in the US every year, while Media Monitors says there are 360 Mercedes dealerships in this country. Lots of jobs there.

We also built Mercedes Benz vehicles here. The Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class Sport Utility and the full-sized GL-Class Luxury Sport Utility Vehicle are built at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International production facility near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the home state of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

It’s simple. When a news story is negative, it is fake news. When he tweets, we are asked to assume the position of, “this tweet speaks for itself.” Really? What does it mean to say that we have a “Massive Trade Deficit” with Germany?

According to the CNN Money web site: in 2016, the U.S. trade gap with Germany was $67.8 billion, the second largest in the world. America’s trade deficit with China, at $310 billion, was the only one larger.

But Germany also bought $80.4 billion worth of American goods and services last year, more than was purchased by any other European country except the United Kingdom.

Does Donald Trump really understand how trade works? We are starting to see that his priorities on policy are based on how things make him look, rather than what is the most important aspects for America. Rather than putting America First, it appears that putting Donald Trump first is more important.

His rants and tweet storms may be fun for him and his 30% devout followers they call his “base” but what about the 70% of America who just want him to do a good job? Every decision he makes is driven by the penchant to disrupt rather than lead.

You can’t keep attacking friends, like Germany and expect every news story to be bright and positive. Sean Spicer can pronounce that the 9-day trip was a success, but in reality, the damage that Trump left behind will hurt us for years to come.

Trump’s Family Flaw

Did it ever dawn on anyone that the reason Donald Trump ran for President was because he doesn’t trust anyone? Because he distrusts government and holds a penchant for conspiracy theories, like the government cooked up the case against the Trump Organization about housing discrimination in 1973, he lives in a world where everyone is out to get him.

His thin skin and quick to the defense behavior is linked to some kind of disorder that he has to be the bully in order to feel good. Without a fight, without controversy, without tons of press, he is a frightened little boy making sure there is nothing under the bed.

Perhaps this was how his father viewed the world but most likely the silver spoon that has been in his mouth since birth has leached just enough metal in his brain to deliver permanent damage.

With the theme of distrust here, I might advance some of my own theories of how things work in our government and Washington. Let’s start with a basic truth: the power structure of our nation is powered by tons of lawyers. Being an attorney is a valid and important profession, but when things get tough they will be quick to tell their clients to shut up and stay away from cavalier statements.

Next, we have the history of Nixon, who kept saying he was not a crook then ended up being the kingpin in a cover-up and conspiracy to obstruct justice. We had Bill Clinton saying on TV, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” when indeed he did. So, who can we trust? I’m sure the reason Bill Clinton told Hillary to have a private server is because he knew how much the NSA stores in their servers.

George W. Bush told us Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction,” and then we found out that was a trumped-up charge which ended up costing America thousands of lives, wounding one million soldiers and wasting a trillion dollars; much more damaging than sex with an intern.

When America welcomes back President Donald Trump from his 9-day trip to the Middle East and Europe, he will be greeted with the weight of the Russian controversy and the ego trip of being on the world stage will melt away quickly.

Trump focuses on leaks, while the free American press is focused on Russian intervention in our election. Would it surprise anyone that the source of the leaks might be the White House itself? One conspiracy theory is that Steve Bannon is the leaker, using his back-channel press connections. Leaks keep Trump angry and pliable by a world-class manipulator like Bannon. If his main goal is disruption, he would be able to do more disruption and keep the base angry, as well but making it seem like the world is against Trump.

Clearly Bannon is smarter than Trump and has so many allies in the administration that he has surrounded the President with more enablers than thinkers. The latest leak about son-in-law Jared Kushner makes him radioactive and this is just what Bannon wants. Jared has been forcing Bannon into a lesser level in the Trump circle. This leak might be the payback.

Okay, those are all just theories but do they make sense? That is what you are supposed to say right after you utter such outrageous claims. It starts the elevation of a rumor on the journey to plausibility, and the most gullible don’t have to chew too much before they swallow it.

Maybe the attack on Kushner is coming from the Russians in retaliation for the floated comment that sanctions against Russia might get worse. That is how they have been playing Trump through this whole election cycle. Again, that is just a theory.

You shouldn’t have your family work for you when you are President. You shouldn’t own things that would suggest you are in violation of the Emoluments Clause, which states you may not take money from foreign governments for your personal benefit.

Clearly, when people in power don’t admit that something happened until the press points it out, how are we possibly going to trust these liars and deceivers? They are all part of a debilitating, dysfunctional family we elected. Well, we didn’t elect the rest of the family, we just get them for free. And as they say, there is a good reason something is free. They will take their profit on the back end and you will be no better off. You cannot trust someone who Donald Trump can’t fire. Think about it.

Trump Bad Mouths Media

The state slogan of Montana is Oro y Plata, which means Gold and Silver. Perhaps, their recent political headline will set the gold standard on how a Republican should handle the press. Tomorrow we will learn whether the alleged man-handling of a reporter, who just asked a question, had any effect on the special election for their sole member for the House of Representatives. (Because of massive mail-in votes in Montana that were cast before the incident and the fact that the state is primarily Republican, Greg Gianforte won the election and will take the vacant seat).

From Fox News web site (5-25-2017):

Ben Jacobs of The Guardian — walked into the room with a voice recorder, put it up to Gianforte’s face and began asking if he had a response to the newly released Congressional Budget Office report on the American Health Care Act. Gianforte told him he would get to him later. Jacobs persisted with his question. Gianforte told him to talk to his press guy, Shane Scanlon.

At that point, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. … I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, “I’m sick and tired of this!”

Nixon, the first president to regularly refer to reporters as “the media” and stayed away from the more Constitutionally acceptable term, “the press”, lives on in the Trump Administration.

From the First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

I have long believed that activities of some people are usually based on some kind of whisper or permission slip from someone else higher up in power. In this case, perhaps Gianforte was just having a bad multi-millionaire day. Poor Baby!

The “press” says that Gianforte and his wife founded the customer relationship management software company called RightNow Technologies. They certainly must have a grasp of helping customers be successful, or in this case the voter, for positive gains and results. What positives can come from a body slam?

Trump is the source of the negative energy toward the press and the “mainstream media.” A very dear friend of mine just said, “I don’t know what to believe anymore.” Deep inside that sentence is the dogmatic doubt and disingenuous evaluation of our press as all evil, all wrong, all uninformed. How can one TV news network keep belittling all the other media outlets, when they themselves are a “Media” outlet? No brotherhood, no defense when you do wrong. Read: sexual harassment.

When the President focuses on the leaks rather than the truth, he drives a wedge between the purpose of the press in a democracy and the responsibility of any administration to manage its information.

Trump’s team is horrible at messaging and their boss is worse. With all the golf Donald plays, he certainly should understand what a wedge does. Certainly, he knows the difference between a pitching wedge and a sand wedge.

Instead of thoughtfully using a wedge to get himself out of the sand trap of anti-press philosophy, he generally pulls a driver and whacks the press with it. Instead of making the press wither, it makes them stronger. His harangue makes the media motivated to work harder. The greater the number of shots the press takes the more they will find even more things you are doing; right or wrong.

There is no physical contact in Golf and shouldn’t be any in politics. During the campaign, Donald Trump said it’s very appropriate for his supporters to beat protesters at his rallies. Candidate Trump added as a protester was being escorted away, “The guards are being very gentle with him… I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you that.”

Now that Donald J. Trump is President of the United States many seem to disregard what the “candidate” said compared to what the President utters. But really folks, the damage is already done. Trump said it was okay, he won the election, therefore those activities are okay. He has already declared war on the press. The media armies are not going away. They are marching toward him. Even Fox News (above) is forced to tell the truth.

Any fool can launch a web site and blast out their true feelings and thoughts. We are all THE PRESS. We are all THE MEDIA.

Trump & Pope Behind Closed Doors

It was great to see the first lady Melania Trump wearing a veil when meeting the Pope with the President. It was said that she did this out of respect for the Pontiff, while being the uncovered one in Saudi Arabia. I guess respect is a subjective matter in their household.

While the Trump team makes its way across the Middle East and Europe, the President was, as they say, “lawyering up” by hiring a New York law firm to defend himself in the matter of Russia interfering with the election.

This comes within the same week as Michael Flynn, the fired National Security Advisor of the United States, sent letters to both the House and Senate committees investigating him that he would plead the Fifth Amendment and not turn over evidence or testify. One of the reasons given was the appointment of Special Counsel to get to the bottom of the matter.

For those of my readers who need a quick refresher course on the Fifth, here is what it says:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

I added the bolding of the words pertinent to this case. Michael Flynn has the right not to answer any question that could incriminate himself. However, because Flynn is a military officer and the matter of possible collusion with another nation to knowing interfere with our National election, some might want to play the treason card.

The Constitution defines treason as specific acts, namely “levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” The key word here is “adhering” which in this case could mean “obeying” orders from a foreign government. That would be much worse for General Flynn.

Trump is not dumb in matters of lawyers and courts and suits of all kinds. He has lived most of his life defending his business practices and conduct. He knows that once James Comey, Michael Rogers, Director of the NSA and Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence are under oath and testifying to Special Counsel Mueller Trump will be exposed as an over-zealous politician attempting to obstruct the investigation into Michael Flynn.

What possible reason would Donald J. Trump have to put his entire presidency at risk in order to defend Michael Flynn? If he would just let it go, turn over all the information he and staff might have and let the facts speak for themselves, we could get beyond this. If Michael Flynn was simply an embarrassingly bad choice, fine. Flynn would be collateral damage in the quest to restore trust in our election and the President himself.

The news of Trump putting together a crisis management team to deal with this issue is really sad. And might be more proof that we have a real crisis on our hands.

It’s like the Tylenol people trying to find the answer to sabotage and working the PR angle as fast as possible. Tylenol survived as a product, but this matter will give the leader of the free world headaches throughout the summer.

And it does get hot in DC in the summer, especially when there is a crisis in the house.

“I never said the word Israel.”

There is a great term that many have used to describe people who either act or speak inappropriately. They say the person is being “tone-deaf” to demonstrate the feelings of those who are affected by the statement.

When the President’s travel ban was rolled out (1-28-2017) and confusion reigned at the major airports, instant protests popped up at airports all over the country, Trump was in the movie room at the White House watching Finding Dory. Albert Brooks, one of the voiceover actors in that drama summed it up best, “Odd that Trump is watching Finding Dory today, a movie about reuniting with family when he’s preventing it in real life.”

Another tone-deaf moment came that same weekend when Ivanka Trump tweeted out her “Date Night” picture of her and Jared dressed to the nines. Many critics of the royal family were quick to point out the insensitive nature of the tweet. What was the big deal? She has always been rich and will always be rich. That’s what rich folks do while others suffer.

After an optically enticing visit to Saudi Arabia, Trump traveled to Israel and was greeted warmly by that country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Everything was going great, until the Donald couldn’t resist the screaming press after the hand-shake photo opportunity. He had to talk. He had to defend himself. He has no discipline.

The look on Netanyahu’s face said it all. While Bebe smiled and repeated his stock answer to the controversy, Trump hushed the reporters so they could all hear his words, “I never mentioned the word or the name Israel during that conversation!”

Once again, Mr. Know-It-All opened his mouth and put his foot in it. It was beyond “tone-deaf.” It was disrespectful to the leader of our ally and a totally uncouth remark to throw out. While he denied that a conversation about Israeli intelligence took place with the Russians, he confirmed there was a conversation about the ISIS plot. His lawyers were groaning out loud.

While he may think that declassifying intelligence at will is his prerogative, he should remember that what he claims he doesn’t know is in direct conflict with all his previous statements about knowing everything about ISIS.

And low and behold, just as he makes the short trip to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the State of Palestine, he is greeted with another terrorist attack. This time in Manchester, UK. (5-22-2017)

As he stood there and declared the terrorists “Evil Losers” he demonstrated his knack for being “tone-deaf” on the global stage. That word “loser” might connote that those suffering through the attack are the winners. What?

Knowing that President Trump is not manageable, by the large entourage he brought with him, doesn’t lessen the hindrance of poor communication. Just as he is pointing out how the perpetrators of such a horrific act are such losers, he throws in, “It will happen again.” Maybe when the teenage girls in Manchester hear his warning of the terrorists returning he achieves his goal of spreading fear with no empathy.

He may think he is the King of deals, but still gets low grades for seeming uncaring and wanting to be more “right” than compassionate. He declares what people think. He pronounces what people should feel. But what he will find out painfully is that his words matter. Laws are based on words.

Donald J. Trump’s great presidential scam continues, but in this show he doesn’t control the final scene. He can’t fire public opinion. He cannot declare winners or losers like in reality TV. Twenty-two people lost their lives. That is the reality for their families.

Presidential Gunrunner Changes Tune

Mohammed was able to unite the tribes of Arabia through religious doctrine and force, while Donald Trump, no Mohammed indeed, was able to drive a firmer wedge between the Sunni and Shia believers with one trip to the Middle East.

His vitriol against Iran deployed the old philosophy, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. To the tune of billions of dollars in armaments and technology, the Royal Saud family secured Donald Trump’s loyalty.

To be fair, this is no different than what the former CIA Director and President George H.W. Bush saw was the method to have “normal” relations with most of the Arabs in the area. The US President has always had to deal with kings and dictators to keep the wheels of diplomacy and industry rolling. Stated more directly, Saudi Arabia has oil and we have weapons and great software.

In Donald Trump’s speech to the gathered tribes and countries of the Muslim faith, he failed to comprehend the nature of Islamic banking. For someone who has spread his footprint around the world, Trump’s naïveté on the way the money flows from legitimate sources to the terror groups is astounding. His state department experts could have told him that the men listening to his speech Sunday in Riyadh have no idea what the Islamic banks do with their money because those banks are under no government’s reach. This is how Mohammed wanted it.

Hats off, no pun intended, to the First Lady and Daughter Ivanka for not covering their heads while in a Muslim country, but then, First Lady Obama already blazed that trail. It was interesting how Trump’s daughter might have made a statement in Saudi Arabia, but then covered her head in Israel. So, noted.

Donald J. Trump, who called for the ban on all people coming from Muslim nations, was much more tempered when facing the force of dozens of Islamic nations sitting before him. He didn’t use the term “radical Islamic terrorism” out of respect for the religion. Wow, how he adjusts his act to his audience. When he gets to Israel he will don a yarmulke so not to offend. When did he become so politically and socially correct? What will his base think?

The trip to Saudi Arabia will no doubt improve Trump’s ratings, but while he is away, the plot against him continues in the States. Watching him look so presidential, with no damaging tweets this week, will he learn from this trip? Like someone on vacation without a care and with loads of procedural respect dished out and obviously patronizing anointment from the hosting countries, he shouldn’t let it go to his head. Trump will find the trip less positive toward the end.

He has to face the holy pontiff in the Vatican. The Pope will not kiss his ring or give him a gold necklace. He will ask hard questions about South Americans, walls and what have you done for the poor?

With the big NATO meeting and the G7 Economic Summit in Italy, Trump will find less adoration and more hard questions. For now, he leaves Saudi Arabia with the feeling of success, but with a hard road ahead.

People in America don’t care about whether the Sunnis and Shia hate each other; that has been going on for 1,400 years. What America sees on TV this week will probably fool some into believing that this man of orange has a plan for America.

Peace in the Middle East and deals for bombs won’t give the US a better healthcare system. Trump having lavish banquets abroad will not produce a fairer tax plan for the citizens of this country. But he did say we would get tired of winning. The hype is painful.

“Believe me, there was no collusion!”

We have to feel sorry for Donald Trump because he has been treated so unfairly by the media, the press, Democrats, zoning boards, Congress, the legal system, interest groups, lobbyists, women, Billy Bush, the intelligence community, the Justice Department and now the Special Counsel. The whole world is against him.

When Richard Nixon uttered the words, “I am not a crook” most of America knew that this was one of the great examples of what I have always called the “implication of the opposite.” When people use defensive terminologies and then repeat them too often, the listener slowly flips the meaning. The more Nixon said that he was not a crook, the more we believed he was. Nixon also called Watergate a “witch hunt,” and when he obstructed justice he was forced out of the office by Congress.

When Trump says the appointment of Special Counsel is “respectable” but in the same sentence calls the whole investigation a “witch hunt” he combines opposite propositions.

Trump uses words “believe me” a lot when he speaks. Some would say that is the mark of a very insecure speaker, but it just might be a tell. The tell being, I am lying so I have to ask for belief before my words are spoken, like a hypnotic suggestion.

Another behavior occurred after one of his unbelievable tweets. We heard Trump and his surrogates say, “the tweet speaks for itself” which is almost like blaming the tweet for what was said. The next level was the question from Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro about whether conversations are being recorded in the White House. Trump answered, “That I can’t talk about. I won’t talk about that.” Why not explain yourself and the tweet?

This is what Trump does when he cannot back up his opinions with facts or truth. It is quite clear that our president is not a student of history. If he would have studied what happened to Richard Nixon, he would have known what not to do. But he is more interested in being known for someone who did it his way. Where is Frank Sinatra when we need him?

I would like to remind all those evangelical power brokers about the ninth of the Ten Commandments, bearing false witness against thy neighbor. Scholars make a distinction between lying in general and bearing false witness (perjury). Funny how there wasn’t a specific commandment regarding every day lying. I guess if Trump perjures himself in future cases, the Bible crowd will have to leave him.

This pattern of lying is disturbing. The quick darting from one story to the next hurts America. The stock market, allies and the citizens need to have a consistent and well- thought-out plan. We are not getting that from this administration.

Trump will learn that having only 39% of the public behind him and constantly playing to his base will earn no value abroad. They don’t care how popular you think you are.

But what we should really be concerned about is a sign that our President is losing his grasp of putting words together in a meaningful way. When asked about the investigation, he actually said these words:

“…there certainly is no collusion between myself and my campaign, but I can always speak for myself and the Russians, zero.”

You can brush off this as more hamburger helper or you can take this sentence for the way it was constructed. Is this a soundbite for a courtroom drama? The man said there was no collusion between him and his campaign. Was that a way to plant the seed that he didn’t control what his campaign and transition team did? Is he that smart?

And you could also say, perhaps a little Freudian slip there, that he was confessing that he can speak for the Russians. Really? Who made him the Russian ambassador?

Adding the word “zero” at the end doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence. When the leader of the free word has a major problem with syntax, this is a real problem. When people translate these words into other languages, he might be very surprised how misunderstood he is.

When Trump peppers his speech with “everybody thinks so,” or bragging about the “fantastic job” he is doing, he doesn’t cloud the negative moments that can appear in the same paragraph, even in the same sentence. He’s elevated George W. Bush to valedictorian status.

The pressure is getting to poor Donald. Everybody is treating him so unfairly. Why? He should be analyzing why so many people are against him.

Trump Leaves America in Denial

Donald J. Trump, ready to embark on his long trip to meet with leaders of the world, sends his first tweet in 24-hours (5-18-2017). He lives in denial. We can only hope that he can endure the extreme vetting that an immigrant would suffer coming through customs.

We are seeing things melt away fast. Between the Comey memos, creating the possibility that Trump asked the FBI Director to let go the investigation of Michael Flynn and his ties to Russia, we also get the news that Trump was warned about Flynn by Susan Rice, Sally Yates and President Obama. Nonetheless Trump, named him National Security Advisor. So much for extreme vetting.

Trump uses short little phrases, he probably writes on his little hands, to deflect truth and promote his agenda of lies. He claims this is the biggest “witch hunt” in American history, well he did use the word “politician.” I didn’t think Donald Trump was a politician, I thought he was different; a real swamp drainer.

But as far as witch hunts, the Salem witch trials between February 1692 and May 1693 resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. Not sure you want to dredge up that piece of history with your rhetoric, Mr. Know-It-All. Witch hunts don’t usually end well for the witches.

There are many smoking guns here, but most of the people who voted for Agent Orange cannot see the smoke from the witches. They think the Media are lying and they are the witches and bitches; when, in fact, the press is being played by the leakers who have this righteous viewpoint that democracy is better when people know what is going on. The operative word here is “righteous.”

The Department of Justice has appointed a special counsel to review what happened and possibly bring charges against those who abused their power, Donald Trump is on the defense with a large smear of denial. One day Trump will wake up to the reality that the United States of America is bigger than him and his fragile ego. His self-esteem is so delicate that when the slightest breeze of truth hits it spins uncontrollably round and round.

Robert Swan Mueller III, may have a beautiful middle name, but he will be Donald Trump’s biggest problem in his life. Male swans of all species will ferociously guard their nests and in this case, the nest is our country. While the President runs around the country trying to impress other leaders, Mueller will be hard at work finding the facts.

We deserve to know the facts and get to the bottom of this ridiculous charade that this administration has perpetrated on America. If Trump did nothing wrong, then he can be managed better when both parties know the extent to which his incompetence and unethical actions have damaged the presidency and our country.

If he did something wrong, he needs to be removed from office. He cannot make money on his short stay in the White House, which means he will have to divest many properties to pay for lawsuits that will fall from the sky.

It is sad that, as great as our country is, it could have been hijacked by a con man. Is there really any difference between Bernie Madoff and Donald Trump? Maybe that’s going too far, but hey, you never know.

Trump Recorded in the Oval by the Russians?

Wake up America, Trump and Putin are having a love affair. We have to ask the question, when do Republicans step up and do something about it? Let’s just walk through seven days of presidential disgrace.

The Donald decided to fire the Director of the FBI on May 9, 2017 because of the investigation into Russia’s tampering with the US election. Then, he had the Russians in the White House the next day, where he unknowingly gave them intel that was provided by Israel.

Let’s rewind the clock now. On Valentine’s Day 2017 the New York Times told us that Trump asked the FBI’s to “let go” the investigation into Michael Flynn. Incredibly, this happened just one day after Agent Orange fired Flynn. Now we have half-baked experts discussing if this was obstruction of justice.

Obstruction consists of any attempt to hinder the discovery, apprehension, conviction or punishment of anyone who has committed a crime. The acts by which justice is obstructed may include bribery, murder, intimidation, and the use of physical force against witnesses, law enforcement officers or court officials.

When I heard Congressman Adam Schiff say we have to look at “intent” I almost laughed. Trump, in his own style, asked Comey to end the investigation into Flynn and then later he fired him. That should be a giant period at the end of the sentence and as much intent as any logical person would need.

Just when we thought that all the shoes have dropped, Putin announced that he can provided a transcript of the discussion that took place with the President on May 10, 2017 in the Oval Office. Trump not only got played by the Russians with photographs of them yucking it up, but Putin says he knows every word that was said there. This begs the question, what is secure?

If this seems to have gone too far, then you are being logical and a loyal American. If you see all this as some conspiracy to get Donald Trump, then you obviously are a member of the cult of unawareness; God bless you.

What are we going to do? We have already gone through this before, it was called Watergate. There is a moment in time when we realize that absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s time for people like McMaster, Tillerson and Mattis to stop their attempts to bail out the loser. They are losing whatever credibility they had.

Yes, we aren’t winning because we have a loser in the White House and he has to go. President Pence will be inadequate at best, but we must stabilize the Republic and get this government back on solid American Sovereignty. There are times when people want change. Wanting something different is okay, but we also have to be open to that comprehension that our choice might not have been what is best.

Why wait four years to fix this mistake? It’s time for thinking Americans to decide what they want their country to be. We are either going to permit this perverse vision of our country or go back to a standard operating procedure that has worked for more than 240 years.

Donald J. Trump has just proved that he is unfit to be President of the United States. Is that clear enough?

Mother F**king Laptops on these Mother F**king Planes

There are two things happening at the same time and if you open your eyes wide enough you will see that America has a problem. Let’s simplify all this into grains of truth.

First, we have a President in Trump who actually is being told by lawyers and over-zealous advisors how to leap over his latest lie. Is this democracy or is it something kingdoms had to do when the teenager became King because his old man died. In this case, lots of people who voted for Trump’s big mouth made a huge mistake. Donald Trump has some abnormal affection and bizarre loyalty to Russia. We have to find out what that’s all about.

He may have the right and power to declassify at will, but once he does the intelligence is no longer a secret and then can be circulated to anyone – SIS and newspapers for example. That’s dumb on his part.

Next, he made a threat, now unveiled, to his fired FBI Director and made a cryptic tweet about “tapes” in the White House. He then proceeded to claim he didn’t leak anything to the Russians about a threat of ISIS laptop bombs. He next used the phrase “humanitarian reasons” as a justification for leaking information about the plot to the Russians in the Oval Office. Does he realize that if there are any “tapes” they can be subpoenaed by Congress?

Agent Orange has painted himself into a legal corner which he cannot escape without laying down some heavy footprints. But that is not the biggest part of this intrigue. The story within the story is the insane idea of making people check their computers on all flights. There are very good reasons that this would put more people in danger.

Laptops generally run on nickel cadmium (NiCad), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), or lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, with Li-ion being the most common in newer laptops. There’s a reason why the airlines currently ask you to take any device that has a lithium battery out of luggage you plan to check.

In February of 2016 The Department of Transportation, which oversees the FAA, banned the use of lithium batteries on planes. Due to the risk of fire, lithium-ion batteries cannot be shipped as cargo on passenger planes.

Now we are hearing this call to make people check their laptops in baggage. Is Homeland Security this stupid? Someone will close their laptop and forget to turn it off. They will then place it in the middle of their clothes to protect it and create an overheating situation that could create a luggage hold fire. Who’s your terrorist now?

Let’s get back to those “absolute rights” the Donald claims. It’s about time for the Congress to read Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. The President cannot make law.

And Agent Orange should read the last paragraph in Article 1, Section 3: Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

The President is not above the law, be it in the office or out of the office. What he told the Russians may or may not destroy a relationship we have with another government’s security services, or it might get someone killed, but Trump doesn’t care. He’s focused only on how he looks to whomever is in the room, friend or foe.

With each justification and lack of communication with Congress, the greater the number of Republican skeptics he will create. Meanwhile, we better hope that laptops in suitcases don’t start fires on those planes. Trump may be a baboon, but someone has to stand up to bad security policies. We cannot trust Trump to keep a secret or make a good decision. Sad, really, really, Sad!